Skateboards and longboards are well known recreational devices used by people to slide on wheels over a smooth surface such as concrete, asphalt or similar. Skateboards are typically 70 cm to 87 cm long, lightweight and targeted to people willing to perform tricks and acrobatic manoeuvres such as jumps and spins. Longboards, instead, are focused on people willing to use the board for recreational cruising, commuting or for high speed downhill rides. For this reason they tend to be longer (80 cm to 150 cm) and wider, with bigger wheels (60 mm to 100 mm in diameter) and improved stability at high speed. While this is good for the main purposes of a longboard, it raises problems for commuters or generally speaking for every user at the moment when said longboard is to be carried around before or after the main activity. For this reason a foldable longboard is needed in order to give access to the stability and safety of a proper sized longboard to people in need to transport the device in backpacks or store it in small closets.
The present invention proposes a longboard that can be folded for easy storage and transportation when not in use.
A preliminary review of prior art and patents was conducted by the applicant in order to ensure the novelty of this invention. The review highlighted similar solutions but none of them is based on the flexibility of a specific part to be bent when the device is in folded configuration. The patented solutions found are all based on multiple moving parts like metal hinges or complex mechanical systems with levers, springs or pivots.
Prior art for foldable longboards also exist with designs based on metal hinges. While this is a possible approach, it doesn't offer good stability over time because typically, and in particular when high forces and vibrations are applied, hinges get torn quickly. In addition to this, the classic clean profile of a single piece longboard is altered with these bulky metal structures placed along the board line. Furthermore the metal parts involved in using hinges, such as nuts, bolts and the hinges themselves, might get loose or rusty and the interface between said hinges and the deck constitute a single point of failure on said deck.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,459,670 a longboard with a hinged joint is claimed that is probably the closest solution to the one claimed in this patent application. The deck is split in two parts with two hinges mounted on the lower surfaces of both parts, through additional interfacing blocks. Said hinges are in charge of keeping both parts of the deck together while allowing it to switch between its elongated configuration and its folded configuration.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,976,034 a skateboard divided in 3 parts connected through articulated pivot means that include two pivot pins each is claimed. Said skateboard folds in the opposite direction compared to the longboard claimed by this patent application and, therefore, a complex system for locking said skateboard in its elongated configuration is required as the weight of the user acting on the central part of the skateboard during normal use will tend to set said skateboard in its folded configuration.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,931 a different folding skateboard is proposed again divided in 3 sections but again using hinges for interconnect said sections. The hinges are connected on the lower surfaces of the deck sections and the skateboard folds in a similar way to the longboard presented in this patent application.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,474 a different approach is proposed by folding the board in three parts along the vertical axis. Metal pivots are used to keep the parts together and allowing the movement needed for entering the folded configuration. The object described is very different from a conventional skateboard as it is composed of two separated foot plates instead of a single deck split in more parts.
At the time of writing, the applicant is not aware of any prior art or patented solution that uses one or more indivisible element, each of which being connected to the multiple parts of the deck where the capability of bending of said indivisible element is exploited to fold and unfold the longboard.